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Author
Topic: US State of Union (Read 11769 times)

I'm kind of surprised that no one has commented on the new healthcare proposal last night. While the chances of Bush's proposal going anywhere are just about nil for now, they present a scary direction for the course of healthcare and the working middle class. His proposal would change the tax code, encouraging employers to stop offering health insurance, therefore leaving everyone to buy it on the open market. My question is, what happens to high risk individuals that an insurance company wouldnít touch with a 10 foot pole? I certainly couldnít afford a high risk premium even if it were deductible from being purchased on the open market. The only people I see benefiting from this proposal are people like my parents who are going to have to purchase healthcare next year when they retire. Thank god the Demís wonít let the tide start turning in that direction!

We're going to be hearing a lot more about healthcare in the coming months and leading up to next year's presidential election as well.

This latest idiocy is going to end up in the same waste bin with the Social Security nonsense which would have encouraged dipping into those monies to gamble in the stock market. Now THAT was another swell idea, wasn't it!

At this time ACT UP is planning as the focus of it's main 20th anniversary action in March a call for national health care, hoping thereby to address an issue which is of great concern to all, whether living with HIV or not.

Of course it's a big bite to chew off, but the need is urgent in our country where over 40 million people don't have health insurance.

The way for something to start getting fixed is by our daring to think big and go for it focusing our passion, determination and intelligence on changing how things are done.

I wished they would at least do a pilot program of nationalized insurance for those with chronic diseases. Yes, this is because it effects me, but it would included other ailments as well.

It's simply a scam that we are the only industrialized country that does NOT have some sort of single payer national health plan. It's been thrown around as an idea since FDR's time and ALWAYS shot down by the Pharma/Insurance lobbyists and their paid off lackeys in the government which consists mostly of members in one political party I will not mention by name.

I wished they would at least do a pilot program of nationalized insurance for those with chronic diseases. Yes, this is because it effects me, but it would included other ailments as well.

It's simply a scam that we are the only industrialized country that does NOT have some sort of single payer national health plan. It's been thrown around as an idea since FDR's time and ALWAYS shot down by the Pharma/Insurance lobbyists and their paid off lackeys in the government which consists mostly of members in one political party I will not mention by name.

But it rhymes with Bepublican....

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LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Also, if you have the tax deduction on the private insurance...it would also make the employer issued insurance taxable income! So, once again in all of his wisdom, the middle and working class suffers in all of this! Either you have to buy private insurance or your you are taxed on the insurance benefit. Now no longer a benefit!

One thing you can always take comfort in with Dubya... when the details come out it will look like a pyramid scheme. Why anyone takes this joker seriously anymore is beyond me, but evidently there is still about 30% of the population that has yet to awake.

Of course I disagree with everyone on this one. Ws Social Security problem was not his program, it was 99% of pols dont have the guts or moral fiber to save it and say what must be done and W as we all know has serious communication problems. We have heard nothing from Dems on how to save SS. Someone must stand up soon and say enough is enough,benefits have to be cut by raising the age and by lowering benes paid to high income earners. Ws program was an effort to encourage personal saving which is never a bad thing.Anyone here who under the age of 40 is gonna have a one hell of tax bill in a few years paying my benefits. Fuck,I am paying my parents benefits. The only way out of this mess without cutting benefits across the board is through government inflation.The best thing about Ws health care plan is his attempt to get the individual back into the pricing process. He doesnt seem to realize that US is already to far down that slippery slope of socialism to get people to pay for something they have been given or feel is their god given right. The present system is a fcking mess and there is no good solution. Dems will do nothing on this for the next two years so they can have something to attack reps on. I dont watch the State of Union. Its all bull shit,always has been. Just a pol standing up their reading of a grocery list of shit he is gonna do,so you will vote for him and his party,and they never ever do it. Either party. I hate the glad handing at the end among people who act like they want to kill each other 24/7. I hate the new speople coming on afterwards and telling me what I just heard. Why do they do that? Do they really despise us that much and think we are that stupid? They are like listening to John Madden tell me what I just saw in a football game. Fuckem. I watched three straight hours of law and order svu. I love Marisa Hargitay.

there is no free lunch. We are all gonna have to agree to pay something for our healthcare. Employer provided healthcare is compensation. its part of your pay.Why should a person who works for a big company not be taxed and a person who is self employed get screwed?

Back 2 years ago when Bush was re-elected, my former poz employer was in tears when he won. I always wondered why the re-election would affect him so much. I know Bush is anti-gay anything but I knew it was something more behind his hatred towards George W Bush. He has been poz since 1993 and seems to be doing well but has severe wasting issues. He and I never got close because to me, he was a little looney. Back then I didn't know I was poz so I wasn't focused on things such as healthcare and stem cell research. I read an article not too long ago that mentions that perhaps Stem cell research can be a future successful treatment for AIDS and since we all know Bush is anti stem research could his frustration of having 4 more years in power delay a cure/treatment therapy with stem cell research? Could it be that Bush's administration is affecting the future drugs for us?

Yes, Bush is thwarting drug discovery so he can kill people with HIV. Do you really believe that? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard in my life. Wait a minute, it isnt crazier than the people accusing Bush of creating the Katrina storm.

Which he did! We all know it. Anything that goes wrong is his fault....you should know that Jack.

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LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Jack cant help it....being a republican and supporting Bush is like a birth defect, poor guy!

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LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Sigh... anything that endangers the profits of drug companies and insurance companies will immediately be branded as the favorite strawman of the right wing: "the slippery slope of socialism" .

Guess what? Health care is a right, not a privilege. Profit should be sought elsewhere than on the backs of the poor and the sick. It's all good and fine that capitalism has been proven to work and is the only system that works and blah blah blah. In fact, it has been also proven to be unstable and unsustainable and unethical in certain areas. This is one of them.

I am very much looking forward to spending yet MORE on my co-pays (up to 250/month) so that someone who feels I am not making decisions in my best economic interest can lecture me that my health plan might not be the best possible solution and maybe I should be considering other meds or whatever. F#### that. Our blessed jesus wants you to be rich capitalist scheme of thinking that the potential for profit is the primary motivation for human ingenuity is the only way has been consitently and thorougly disproven by the fact that many of the key leaps forward in medical research have not been made by companies in the US but by so-called socialist enterprises in places like, horror of horrors, France ... or oh my god.... even India.

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Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

I think that those of us in MA are still in shock, having heard that the premiums for a single person making up to 29k something would be around $380.00/month with all sorts of conditions attached. This is not the HDAP coverage, but one which is directed to those who have no health insurance currently. What is the likelihood that anyone could afford such a monthly premium: none. So then we wade into a federal concept and a report that what would likely happen is that insurance pools would evaporate but for the seriously ill forcing premiums to the point that no one can afford the pools. Win

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Winthrop Smith has published three collections of poetry: Ghetto: From The First Five; The Weigh-In: Collected Poems; Skin Check: New York Poems. The last was published in December 2006. He has a work-in-progress underway titled Starting Positions.

Why does ANYONE think a Democratic controlled Congress is going to follow a Republican president's lead on ANY healthcare issue? This is as dead as Dumblefuck's Mission to Mars. It was just hot air for TV. Nothing more. Forget about it... it has as much a chance of success as a troop surge in Iraq.

I watched last night, and the thought that came to my mind is that practically every person present in that room (all of Congress) does not have any health insurance worries for themselves or their families. I think this is one of those things that you just don't "get it" until you get in our shoes and walk around awhile.

I wish Nancy Pelosi had hit the jackass on the head with that gavel....now that would have been worth watching!

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"Remember my sentimental friend that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." - The Wizard of Oz

We're going to be hearing a lot more about healthcare in the coming months and leading up to next year's presidential election as well.

This latest idiocy is going to end up in the same waste bin with the Social Security nonsense which would have encouraged dipping into those monies to gamble in the stock market. Now THAT was another swell idea, wasn't it!

At this time ACT UP is planning as the focus of it's main 20th anniversary action in March a call for national health care, hoping thereby to address an issue which is of great concern to all, whether living with HIV or not.

Of course it's a big bite to chew off, but the need is urgent in our country where over 40 million people don't have health insurance.

The way for something to start getting fixed is by our daring to think big and go for it focusing our passion, determination and intelligence on changing how things are done.

Health care is a right!

HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT!

Since when is healthcare a right?Nothing is free in this world...nothing.

Yes, Bush is thwarting drug discovery so he can kill people with HIV. Do you really believe that? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard in my life. Wait a minute, it isnt crazier than the people accusing Bush of creating the Katrina storm.

The National Institutes of Health official overseeing the implementation of President Bush's embryonic stem cell policy yesterday suggested that the controversial program is delaying cures, an unusually blunt assessment for an executive branch official.

In prepared Senate testimony, Story Landis, director of the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and interim chair of the agency's stem cell task force, closely mirrored previous testimony from other NIH officials, who have for years been careful not to criticize the Bush policy directly, even though that policy has infuriated many scientists because of the limits it places on embryo cell work.

But under questioning, Landis spoke more plainly. When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked her how the policy was affecting medical research, she said, "We are missing out on possible breakthroughs." The ability to work on newly derived stem cell colonies -- precluded from federal funding under the Bush plan -- "would be incredibly important," she added.

Landis also declared that "science works best when scientists can pursue all avenues of research. If the cure for Parkinson's disease or juvenile diabetes lay behind one of four doors, wouldn't you want the option to open all four doors at once instead of one door?"

Bush's plan leaves the chronically ill out of luck. However, looking at the plan from another perspective, the way to get to a nationalized health care system sooner, rather than later, is to remove health care from the workplace. If EVERY US citizen were forced into the market place to get healthcare and had to face the fact that one illness can blacklist them for the rest of their lives, there would be much more impetus among the general public to move toward a single payer, national health care system. Otherwise, I do believe we'll have to wait another 15-20 years until the baby boom generation reaches the age where chronic illness becomes a reality of their age. In order to pay for the health care needs of the elderly, we'll have to roll everybody into a common plan... young and old, healthy or not... and it would be mandatory... and funded by taxes... but don't expect it in the near future unless something radically changes in the current status quo. and... it would have to contain a "ceiling" of care... which means no more 100K cancer treatments to extend life only 6 - 12 weeks. (that's where private insurance would come in)

Jack Jack Jack...Those self insurred per family pay $12000 a year for insurance. That does not include co-pays or deductables. So GW wants to let people deduct $2000 from their tax once a year. Still leaving $10000 out of pocket. Then tax those WITH employer insurance to pay for this?HaRdLy a plan.....

Byw, dont even bother worring about the GW plan. It will be DOA if it ever gets to congress. Which it wont.

Hillary is the one to watch. After they mixed her plan back in the Clinton admin, the Clintons still pushed and made ground with a smaller plan that covered kids. She is looking to expand this, as a start, if she gets the chance. Cant remember what their program is called that they started. But she wants to expand it to cover every child. And go on from there.

It's so simple, most people who couldn't afford health insurance also are too poor to owe taxes. But...if you give them a deduction from their taxes they don't owe, they can use the money they're not getting back from what they haven't given to buy the health care they can't afford.

It's so simple, most people who couldn't afford health insurance also are too poor to owe taxes. But...if you give them a deduction from their taxes they don't owe, they can use the money they're not getting back from what they haven't given to buy the health care they can't afford.

Jan. 25, 2007 ó Children living in red states ó those in which a majority of the citizens voted Republican in the 2004 presidential election ó may be worse off in terms of health than those living in states that voted Democrat, according to a new book.

The book, "Homeland Insecurity Ö American Children at Risk," suggests kids in red states are more likely to lack health insurance, live in poverty and die early.

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

education cuts?? huh? Bush and the republicans have spent more money on government programs than any government in US history. There have never been cuts in spending. There have been attempt to cut the increases. Government spending goes up every year. Bush has proved that no amount of spending will satisfy those with their hands out. He could come out and say lets raise spending on any bill you name by One trillion and you guys wouldn't be happy. The dems would then figure,why not 5 Trillion.Bush has proposed changes to both Healthcare and SS and the Dems have offered absolutely nothing on either. And they won't. They saw how Clinton took credit for Republican welfare reform and balancing budget and they aren't gonna let Bush pull a fast one on them. In addition if Dems do anything on anything for the next two years they won't have anything to whine about in 2008.You all have to hope that Hillary does a better job of changing healthcare than she did last time. She destroyed any chance of meaningful change over the past ten years because of her Stalinist approach. Why would Bill put a person who was not a government employee,not an elected official, in charge of such a huge project? A person whose only job in life prior to being first lady was a lawyer at a firm whose largest clients were State of Arkansas and Willys largest contributors. Cause he didnt give a fuck about healthcare, and he had to keep her out of his hair.We need new blood in the big office. We need someone not of Clinton line or the Bush line. Unfortunately I dont see very many on either side who are worth a shit. Clintons will destroy Obami, if they havent already. McCain will flip his lid any day now. He is Ross Perot lite. Richardson doesnt seem like a bad guy,too bad he got hooked up with Clintons. They will bury him rather than let him get top billing. I guess I would vote for Rudy. We need someone who has had real experience with budgets and making things work. Congressmen and senators are worthless.

Oh Jake no one cares...your one solution fits all topics is a hoot. Everyone knows Rudy faked cancer so he wouldn't have to be humiliated when Hillary whupped up on his ass in their senate race. You are a couple kangaroos loose in the upper paddock. I do think Rudy would make an excellent first lady...what's up with you republicans and your homerotic perversions?

So bush dumps a ton of money into shit, I can pay $456,987 for a double wide trailer and its still a double wide trailer! Republicans have yet again screwed the country all to hell and the Dems are left to pick up the pieces.

Clinton DID balance the budget, he was in office it happened on his watch and if I recall he shut down the entire government to get his way, which turned out to be the right course.

Republicans are greedy bastards that only care about themselves. Name me one good piece of legislature the Republicans have put through congress in the last 50 years!

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LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Vote for Hillary. Time for Clinton to take back the house that is his. And lets hope she names ol billy boy her secretary of state!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that would be fun. I get a little stiffy just thinking about it.

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LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

AC,in case you forgot, Clinton was drug screaming and kicking to the concept of balancing the budget after the Reps took Congress in 94. He said it couldnt be done, then he said maybe in ten years,and then maybe in 5 years, and wtf do you know,we had a balanced budget out of thin air. Capital gains from the stock market bubble somehow balanced the budget,we think or we were told. As we know,and most of us painfully experienced,the stock market began to come apart at the seams while the Waskally One was still in orifice and goodbye balanced budget, if there ever was one. One fact a lot of people overlook is that Franklin Raines was head of Clintons Budget office at that time. As you probably know Fast Franky was CEO of Fannie Mae and oversaw probably the largest financial looting of our time. They still cant figure out how much he stole,lost,and hid. His Co Ceo for a portion of the time was Jamie Gorelick, another Clinton bigwig. I have a feeling ole Franky may have been cooking the books when he was working for Willy. Of course only the Federal Government can have 4 sets of books and none of them add up.The stock bubble that balanced the budget was the result of Big Als printing press. He was printing money like a muthafucka(thats inflation) to offset the tax raises of Clinton, and to support US banks in the South American crash and Hong Kong crashes,and those in addition to the 2000 panic caused stocks to skyrocket. When interest rates were then raised,it became apparent the Government was eating up too much of available capital and we had a fucking stock market crash. Bushes tax cuts have raised government tax reciepts to all time highs and the economy is roaring again.

Clinton's guys were head of the budget office.... shall I begin with VP Dick Cheney and the LOOTING Haliburton is doing to our tax dollars? Or maybe their good friend Ken Lay of ENRON, you may have heard of that little company.

NOTHING in the Clinton era can even COMPARE to the corrupted greed and looting the Republicans have been doing to the country it isnt even CLOSE! Whitewater? Pocket change land deal...Haliburton getting no bid contracts, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!!!! Dont tell me that the big oil buddies of ol GW werent SALIVATING when he took office and what do you know, RECORD PROFITS. Then as he is about to leave, "Fuck people we have to cut our gas consumption by 20%!" Trying to shore up his legacy? I think so. Will it work.... i think not. He will go down as one of the if not the greatest disaster to ever sit in the oval office!!!

Did you still need some more kool aid?

As far as the stock markets go.... of course they were going to crash, everyone knew that our true exalted leader was leaving office and that the country was going to be without the very driving force that pushed us begrudgingly to unbelievable success!

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LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Jack Jack jack. I'm worried about you. That is, where you get your news?

Like you said above:

Quote

Clintons will destroy Obami

Your listening to the bad fox folks and no doubt Rush. Fact is....

The Washington Times is owned and controlled by Sun Myung Moon. THEY started this Hillary-Obami link, Fox ran with it (no surprise) and Rush too. Nuff said? And theres this lady really pushing this bull crap, a fox-ie, that was involved with the Nixon dirty tricksway back in the days of Watergate. Sorry I dont have her name. But she's a mess with dirty tricks.THATS what you need to listen to. His guests are second to none. Like the guy who wrote THE BROKEN BRANCH. The book that is turning republicans against Bush.

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!